Some professionals at the primary care emergency center in Santa Coloma de Gramanet (Barcelona) have said enough. They denounce that they have been enduring a plague of cockroaches in the center for more than a year and a half and that they are not willing to tolerate it any longer. To show the dimension of the problem, they explain that in the morning shift last Thursday they managed to kill up to 80 insects. They also ensure that patients "also kill them", that they have filed complaints and that, despite this, the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS) does not act. In "all this time", they underline, the ICS has made "3 or 4 actions that are still patches: they refuse to fumigate". Faced with this reality, some workers have taken leave.
They say that the problem (located mainly in the radiology service, located on the -1 floor of the building) appeared a little over a year and a half ago, when in each of the shifts they detected several insects. Soon there were already five; later 7, 15…. and so on until reaching the current situation: "In the morning shift on Holy Thursday we killed 80."
The workers with whom La Vanguardia has been able to speak explain that the cockroaches, which “appear everywhere”, run around at will “through the service and among the patients”. They assure that the company "refuses to fumigate" alleging that "it is very expensive to close the center for two days" and that, in addition, it can be "harmful to patients." Failing that, it has carried out “3 or 4 actions” that in the end have been innocuous: “Now they cover a chest; now a slot...".
They report that the six radiology rooms (two for simple radiology; two for ultrasound scans; one for dental radiography and one for mammography) communicate through a false ceiling and that the insects move from one room to another as they are approached. they are blocking the way.
They have been dealing with this problem for so long that some professionals have decided to take sick leave due to stress. “You go to work with a lot of anxiety. You are doing an X-ray on a patient and you see how several insects come off the ceiling”, denounces one of them. "I do not conceive that workers of a public health service have to be killing cockroaches."
For the moment, and according to the testimony of this person affected, what the ICS has done is to "replace" the people who have taken leave. "That means the substitutes will work killing roaches."
Fuentes de Salut, for their part, explained to this newspaper that in 2022 "various actions" were carried out to control cockroaches in the center that were successful and that thanks to them "the plague could be controlled."
They admit that throughout 2023 they "detected" their presence again and that new actions were carried out. They argue that the bulk was carried out during Holy Week and that now "a very significant reduction of the plague has been verified."
Some of the affected workers acknowledge that after these latest actions the number of insects has decreased, but it still exists.
Among the actions carried out, Salut lists both physical measures, with the placement of sticky traps in different spaces, the sealing of wood, the improvement of the sanitation installation or the partial removal and renovation of the false ceiling; as chemical, with the realization of chemical treatments through a gel at different points.
For the workers, they are still patches. And so they made it known yesterday to those responsible for the ICS Barcelonès Nord Occupational Health Unit, with whom they met.
"For me it was a pantomime," laments one of the toilets present at the meeting. "The proposals that they made us? More of the same: that when they can, they will clean the downspouts and cover holes, and that eradicating the plague is very difficult."
By the way, no smoking. "They explained that in 2004 they fumigated at the Joan XXIII hospital in Tarragona and there were personnel who became contaminated, and that from then on they decided not to do it anymore."
On this aspect, Salut argues that according to the regulations for pest control, the application of chemical treatments (fumigation) "is only advisable when other non-chemical measures have not worked".
The toilets say that even in the room where they eat, cockroaches are also present. “You don't know where to sit. While you eat, insects fall on you. It's like a scary movie. They come out everywhere: ventilation holes, walls, lamps… I had never experienced it in my life”. Radiology is the only healthcare service located on the -1 floor, which also houses the pharmacy, the workers' changing rooms and the laundry.
Apparently, and according to those affected, the species of cockroach that has become strong in their plant is the American one. “They are big and they have wings, they fly. The company sends us an individual who does pest control who tells us that he can't do anything else, that the nests are overwhelming and are going to crescendo ”.
"And meanwhile, what do we do?" they wonder. "Are we still killing cockroaches? We are very disappointed ”, they conclude.
